The cookie jar in the picture was given to me over 53 years ago. It was a wedding gift from my grandma Lucy who was born in 1884. It never had a name but I think Cookie is fitting. That's what my babies called it.

It's has held hundreds of cookies and I can't imagine how many little hands and later big hands have reached inside to find one.

***

Cookie is a little worse for wear, a few chips and some of the paint has been worn thin, and he still holds cookies occassionally.

But Cookie doesn't just hold cookies, he holds a multitude of precious memories. Each time I look at him, I remember the little, uncoordinated, dimpled hands, the sneaky grade school hands, the teenager hands that had to drop a few cookies back into the jar before they could get their hand out, the grown up hands reaching for one of mom's cookies and admiring the cookie jar they remember from their childhood.

***

Then the grandchildren came along and it began all over again.

And now a whole new generation of great grandchildren to hope there is a cookie waiting for them in the belly of the old Cookie jar that has been in our family all these years.

I wonder if my grandma thought her choice of a wedding gift would bring so much pleasure into so many of her descendant's lives?

****

Today is very foggy, and damp, but the sun is beginning to shine through and I think we will have a nice day. I tried to do some yard work a few days ago but the ground is still frozen and the weed roots are frozen into the mud! Only about an inch on top is thawed and very slippery. I went sliding a few times and decided to wait until it's safer to be out there.

Monday, January 26, 2009

MY INCREDIBLE BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION!

Here I am holding the cake my daughter in love made for me. I was like a hurricane zipping around my little house making ready for family, cleaning and cooking and I sure look it! LOL It didn't matter. They love me anyway. ((smile))All you after the holiday dieter's will have to forgive me for posting this picture. I just couldn't resist. My birthday cake is easier to see. Didn't Joanie Kate do a beautiful job decorating it?We had those little cream puffs too and pies and other cakes and My Oh My Oh My! I am eating veggies again now.

Here are Tyson & Dylan enjoying dinner. Some of the dishes were lots of fried chicken, Hot dogs, Mexican casserole, Enchilada's, chili, vegetable salad, and a delish jello salad, a chicken casserole, french bread, garlic bread and assorted breads with artichoke, Parmesan dip. My granddaughter Miranda made a soup which is currently being advertised on TV for the Olive*garden. I can't remember the name but it is certainly a soup to remember. Very creamy with chicken, spinach, carrot and those potato balls what ever they are called. Miranda has a natural talent for cooking.There were so many dishes I can't remember them all.

Here are some of the family enjoying dinner. As I have mentioned before, my house is very small so we all just sat where ever we could. Some of the younger people were standing in the kitchen. I have to find more folding chairs.

Maddie and Kenny were having a drink at the old watering hole. I can't believe they are five now. Where does the time go? Maddie is wearing one of the hats I made. See explanation below.

I like this shot. Hee-hee-hee. It is so typical of a daddy and pre-teen daughter.

My grandson David is a wonderful, loving daddy to his three little girls. I am very proud of him.

God bless you always Davey Crockett and continue to guide you.

Yes he lets me call him by my pet name for him even though he is thirty now.

Here is Julia with Miss Victoria. Oh how I love my family, and aren't they just precious?

Victoria's hair is growing and she was wearing three pony tails. One was in back so you can't see it here. SHE'S SO CUTE!!!!!

Miss Madalyn is a different sort of child. Just as sweet and precious as all my little ones, but she has a very unusual sense of humor and curiosity. When she saw me with my camera she asked me to take a picture of her eye. I asked her why. She said, "I want to see it." and gave me a look that said. "isn't that obvious?"

Here is little Ethan with his mama & Papa. Our miracle baby is a perfectly healthy little boy and is blessed with parents and a large extended family who love him very much. And we are just as blessed to have him in our family.

The party's over and goodbye's took nearly an hour. The little ones were getting sleepy and some of the big ones were too.

I have to say that my 70th birthday has been very nice. I felt surrounded by family who love me. No conditions. They just love me and there is no feeling better than that.

This is how our Lord loves us and how I strive to love everyone.

A cute bonus at my party was when some of the kids went out to play and came in shivering with cold wet feet. I have spent the past few months crocheting and knitting stocking caps and slippers. When Madalyn showed me her socks were wet, I pulled out a pair of slippers and put them on her. Then little Victoria came and sat beside me and pointed to the slippers in the basket, so I put some on her. Then little Ethan came and jabbering to beat the band and pointing at his feet, let me know he wanted some too.

Then they found the hats and the four youngest great-grandkid's were running around the house in slippers and hats. It made my heart smile.

I am making more now. Lot's more!

I want to thank each of you for the birthday wishes you have left on my blog.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

MY SEVENTIETH BIRTHDAY

1939 and here I am at about nine months old with a Cloth diaper and a ribbon in my hair.1941 I'm two and a half with my grandma Lillie. This isn't a very good picture of her but I like it because we are together. Notice the huge ice cream cone in my hand. They used to make really big ones and with real ingredients too. Cream, sugar and vanilla.

1944 I am five years old and the war is going strong. Two of my uncles were overseas and Grandma prayed without ceasing. Both my uncles came home but with wounds, both physical and emotional. We were just thankful they came home alive.My love for gardening had begun about a year and a half before this picture was taken and I was helping mom and our neighbors plant their victory gardens by the spring of this year.

1951 and I am twelve and a half years old. That one half is very important to a twelve year old girl. Do you remember the circular skirts made from drapery print fabric that were so popular then? Mom made mine and bought me a new peasant blouse and new strappy shoes too. Boy did I ever feel pretty!

1955 and sixteen and a half. I thought I was a grown woman. I could just laugh myself silly about that now. This marriage lasted for sixteen years and gave me some of the most wonderful children in the world.

1968 and I'm twenty nine years old, have four children and we have moved into a new home with lots of space. The kids are growing and in school and hubby's business is doing very well. I feel an emptiness deep within my soul that only another child will fill. And he did. The Lord gave me a second son a little over a year after this picture was taken. I finally felt complete.

I wasn't going to post this picture for obvious reasons. It makes me feel so ashamed, but it was a phase in my life and I thought of how many times I have seen a young girl dressed inappropriately and felt judgemental about it.

How many of us have only to look back a few years and remember some of our own mistakes.

I need to frequently remind myself 'don't try to take the splinter out of someone Else's eye when you have a log in your own...'

Yes I was wearing a skirt. It's just not very noticeable when sitting.

Aren't style fad's stupid?

1992 and I am fifty three years old. I am in the pink and black shirt with mother Irene beside me. My younger sisters bonnie and Barbara are sitting.

Mother is with the Lord now but we three sisters are thankfully still here and get together occasionally for our 'Sister Days.'We are blessed

1998 and at fifty nine years old, I am holding the son of my oldest grandson. Little Brandon is my great grandchild!!! Do I look pleased with him? Oh if you only knew!

They live in Virginia and I'm in Washington state so we don't see much of each other. I pray this is not always the case. I miss them terribly. I can't believe that Brandon is eleven now.

2009 January eighteenth and my seventieth birthday is four days away.

I am blessed to be a Christian with four living children and three waiting for me in heaven, Three wonderful son's-in-love and one precious daughter-in-love, twelve incredible grandchildren and fourteen of the sweetest great grandchildren. My two little Yorkie's. A little blue cottage with no mortgage, I am debt free, fat and sassy.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

CATCHING UP

Thank you Lord Jesus! Cyndi's tests have come back and there is NO cancer. Thank you all for your prayers.

In the midst of a dreary, rainy winter I just have to flash the promise of spring! This is another rose I started from a single rose that I was given a few years ago. See the little spider hiding between the petals. What a lovely and fragrant house she has to clean.

I wish this picture was plainer to see. Tildy is wearing her new Christmas Dress but was sleeping when I got this shot. I love the pink satin bow on her little hiney and you should see how cute it looks when she's excited and wagging her tiny tail. Her whole hind-end Waggles. I got Tudie a workout outfit but he hated it and rolled all over the house trying to get it off. So I made him a fleece coat with snowflake pattern and he is one happy little fella now.

Here is part of my son's Ice Castle made in 1989 when we had a fierce Northeast wind and left the hose running so the faucet wouldn't freeze and break. He had lots of fun adding the sprinkler and turning up the pressure every day until he had a monstrous and perfectly beautiful castle.

Today is my Angie's 47th birthday. She was born too soon and I didn't get to raise her. I know our Lord is caring for her until we can be together again.

I have always wondered, do you think she will be the tiny baby I saw or will she be a grown woman?

We have had a lot of rain and snow melt here and have serious flooding and mudslides. I had to go to an appointment today and a bit of shopping and had to drive through a lot of water. The wind came up at one point and blew my umbrella inside out. it was so funny I had to laugh. My gray hair was blowing in every direction and my glasses were covered with rain drops I'm sure I looked like a cartoon!

I pray you are all having a wonderful weekend and will have a blessed week too.

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

My very first post on Holy Tornado , my first blog, is the one I post each year on my Blogging anniversary. Holy Tornado is still up but many of the comments and photos have been deleted.

I have enjoyed blogging and meeting all of you. I hope to continue for a long, long time.

I pray our Heavenly Father will continue to use this little space for His glory.

May He bless each of you.

***

Sunday, January 09, 2005THE PROMISEFor my first post I have chosen the favorite Psalm of three generations, My Grandmother Lillie, Mother Irene, and myself. I can now add a fourth, my daughter Patty Jo.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Psalm 91 He who dwells in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust." Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor by the arrow that flies by day; Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you, Only with your eyes shall you look, and see the reward of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling. For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot. "Because he has set His love upon me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known my name. He shall call upon Me and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, and show him my salvation."

Friday, January 02, 2009

MY GOD OF MIRACLES

First of all, my daughter Cyndi asked me to thank you for your prayers and I thank you too with all my heart.Now lets go back to the beginning of all this. Before Christmas Cyndi saw her doctor because she was having some serious menstrual problems. Her Doctor did all the usual tests, and x-rays and discovered her uterus had fibroid tumors, polyps and the lining of the uterus looked bad.. Her doctor said she didn't like the looks of it and scheduled a D&C which took place today. Now lets go back again, to Christmas day when most of the family were gathered at her home. We had her sit so we could lay hands on her and pray for the Lord to take care of her and guide her doctor through the surgeries. It was precious to see her little five year old grandson Kenny, lay his small hand on her leg as we prayed, and her granddaughters also praying with the sweetest concerned looks on their faces. I have asked for prayer for her on CBO, and my friend John in Maryland had his Church praying for her too as well as our extended family. The day after Christmas day Cyndi passed a lot of blood clots and what looked like tissue which must have made her wonder about our prayers for her. Today she had the D&C. Her doctor was surprised to find there were no polyps even though two fibroid tumors are still there. There was an area in her uterus that looked as she put it, 'like hamburger' which is most likely where the polyps had been. So how do you suppose the polyps were removed? I believe by the mighty hand of our loving and merciful Lord God. I wondered why the Lord didn't take the fibroid tumors too and this is why I believe He left them. They seldom become malignant, but polyps do. Polyps also tend to grow back after they are removed. With the tumors still there her doctor will remove her uterus. Cyndi will not have to spend the rest of her life wondering if they are growing back. This surgery is scheduled for February 4th. I could tell you of many miracles the Lord has done in my family, actually it would be a book, but what a magnificent book it would be!